President Donald Trump says Bill Pulte will keep running U.S. intelligence for a “short while” until his nominee, Jay Clayton, takes over as Director of National Intelligence if confirmed.
President Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday that Bill Pulte will remain at the helm of U.S. intelligence for a “short while” until Jay Clayton can assume the role of Director of National Intelligence, assuming Clayton is confirmed.
The situation traces back to last week. when Trump upended expectations across the political spectrum by announcing that Pulte would serve as acting Director of National Intelligence. Critics quickly seized on what they described as Pulte’s lack of experience in intelligence work. but Trump stood by the decision.
On Thursday, Trump formally announced his nomination of Jay Clayton as the next DNI. Clayton is currently the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and is also the former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
During a press conference in the White House, Trump was asked directly about Pulte’s status as acting DNI. The president said Pulte would continue running the job only until Clayton’s term begins.
“He’s only there for a little while. He’s running it for a short while, while we get a very talented person, Jay Clayton, in. As you know, Jay Clayton’s an incredible talent. Head of Sullivan & Cromwell. He was head of the SEC. He’s now Southern District. I mean, nobody has better credentials, but Bill will run for a short while.”.
In recent months, Pulte has been primarily associated with leading the charge in the Trump administration’s push to indict political opponents for alleged mortgage fraud. He was also a key proponent of a controversial 50-year mortgage plan.
His appointment has already sparked predictions about what comes next. Axios’s Marc Caputo said Pulte is likely to “fire lots of people & make ODNI a coordinator agency.”
For now, the White House has made one thing clear: the acting role is not meant to last. Trump’s plan hinges on Clayton’s nomination moving forward and being confirmed, at which point Pulte’s brief tenure as acting DNI would end.
Trump Bill Pulte Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton U.S. Attorney Southern District of New York Securities and Exchange Commission intelligence ODNI acting DNI
So he’s acting for a “short while”… how short though? Days? Weeks? This feels sketchy.
I don’t get why Pulte is even in the picture. Mortgage fraud guy running intelligence?? That’s like putting a CPA in charge of the CIA. Just sounds like payback.
Wait, Jay Clayton is the former SEC chair right? Didn’t he do like financial stuff? Why would that translate to running intelligence, unless they’re just looking for someone to approve spying budgets or whatever. Also “talented” is not the same as experience.
Trump keeps doing this shuffle thing where everyone’s “acting” until the next guy shows up. I heard somewhere it’s gonna make ODNI a coordinator agency and fire people, so basically it’s chaos again. And Pulte being tied to mortgage indictments just makes it seem political, not intel. If Clayton gets confirmed, does that mean Pulte goes back to working on the 50-year mortgage plan??